Rainfall functions as the predominant driving force of runoff and sediment yield on watershed scale. However, previous studies chiefly focused on the effects of areal rainfall characteristics at event scale on runoff and sediment yield, yet the impacts of rainfall spatial differentiation at event scale, i.e., the spatial distribution of rainfall variables within the watersheds, remained inadequately explored. In the present study, comprehensive data were meticulously collected. This data encompassed runoff and sediment data from a hydrological station, as well as rainfall hyetographs from multiple rainfall stations within a representative watershed on the Loess Plateau of China from 1982 to 2020. Subsequently, a series of indicators were proposed to characterize the features of rainfall spatial differentiation within the watersheds. Based on these indicators, the erosive rainfall events were categorized into diverse rainfall spatial patterns. The roles of rainfall spatial patterns in influencing runoff and sediment were revealed, and sediment yield regression models integrating rainfall spatial differentiation were developed. The findings indicated that multiple proposed rainfall spatial differentiation indicators were significantly correlated with runoff depth (H) and specific sediment yield (SSY) (p < 0.05). Compared to rainfall patterns with weaker spatial differentiation, those with stronger spatial differentiation resulted in the substantially larger specific sediment yield (SSY), sediment coefficient (SLC) and peak discharge (Q(max)) (p < 0.05) of the watershed. The uneven coefficient of maximum 30-min rainfall intensity (eta-I30), the maximum 30min rainfall intensity of "high-rainfall amount zone" (I30CA-P) and the IC (index of connectivity) of "highmaximum 30-min rainfall intensity zone" (ICCA-I30) controlled SSY. The models considering rainfall spatial differentiation outperformed those considering only areal rainfall characteristics in predicting SSY, with higher R-2 values, lower RMSE values and higher NSE values. These results offer valuable perspectives on the remarkable influence of rainfall spatial differentiation in generating and predicting the sediment yield of watersheds, thereby shedding new light on the exploration of rainfall-sediment relationships on the watershed scale.